Friday, July 25, 2014

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

As some
of you may know, I am a pretty huge Jane Austen fan. I have loved Pride and
Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility for ages and I can readily quote lines from
and make reference to both.

Summary

Fanny
Price did not come from a rich family. Quite the opposite. Her family has very
little money and many children. When her uncle takes her in, and raises her in
the lap of luxury, it is a blessing for dear Fanny. However, there is always a
marked difference between herself and her four cousins and if she ever forgets
it, which she does not, Aunt Norris is there to remind her.

From
her shy corner of the world, Fanny observes much about the family. Including
some uncouth behavior between her engaged cousin and a handsome friend in town
for a few weeks. However, when this handsome friend turns his attention of
fanny in earnest, she does not know what to do.

Review

This is
the fourth Jane Austen Novel I have read. Unfortunately, it was not her best.
Please don’t grab your torches and pitchforks yet Jane Austens fans everywhere,
I’m still a diehard fan, I’m just a little disappointed in this novel. After
the first 250 (roughly ½ of the book) pages I thought “Okay, this was just the
uphill climb. These are the details that are going to make this second half all
make perfect sense.” And in a way, it was true.There were certain complex emotions and decisions that would not have
made sense in the second half of the book if you hadn’t paid attention in the
first half. Unfortunately, the second half of the book wasn’t the downhill
thrill-ride that I’d been hoping for.

The
second half of the book was sadly not much better than the first. There were
great moments in the story but the telling of them was long and drawn out. I
felt like several parts of story was slow-paced with no purpose. All of the
most exciting details happened in the last 5 of the sixty-four chapters of the
book. The largest part of the excitement really hit in the last 2 chapters. And
while sometimes, this is enough to save my opinion of a book, in this case it
felt a bit half-hearted. I as the reader had endured four hundred and
eighty-one pages of hoping something exciting was about to happen and in the
last 15 pages every major conflict was magically resolved. These were the
details that I had been waiting for and they were left out!!! I felt cheated! I
had listened to every character whine and complain for pages and pages thinking
“just one more chapter and the fun will begin” and suddenly the author just
glossed over it all, discussing it in the most general way and then….the end.
It was over. *Insert Frustrated Wail Here*

So, if
you are a Jane Austen fan, read Mansfield Park just to say you did. That you’ve
read all of her works. If you are looking for classic novels to read, This
wouldn’t crack my top 20. There are too many other novels too choose from.

About Me

God is first in my life! I am saved, sanctified, and spirit-filled! I have an AA in Psychology and I'm working on my BSW! I enjoy reading VERY much! Its one of my biggest hobbies since I was a little kid!